Normally I do coin magic, but I watched the Detach video and it looked fantastic, so I thought I would expand my repertoire. Watch the video, it's spectacular! Guess what? The video is exactly what is advertised! You probably could perform this after about a half hour of practice.

However, being normally a coin magician, I know practice makes perfect, so I practiced this effect for about two weeks off and on. Now I can do the effect in my sleep and do it very smoothly.

I performed it twice now, once in front of friends and again at an Easter party. I was surprised! I got the same results both times, their jaws just dropped! I knew the effect was good, but you should have seen their faces, they were totally blown away!! I get very good results with my coin magic, but none any better than Detach.

When the trick is over they can't believe the balloon is still in one piece. I also performed the bonus trick at the Easter party, which also blew their minds. The tricks are easy, but I recommend you practice them for a while, so as to perform them smoothly including some killer subleties.

The video is very professional and all you need is the video and a normal balloon. I love Rick lax, he is real cool and explains the effect brilliantly. When I purchased it I was saying to myself it can't be as good as the video, but I was wrong, very wrong! What you see is what you get.

I will still be doing my beloved coin magic, but for some variety I will always be carrying around a balloon or maybe 6 or 7 balloons to do the bonus trick. Excellent job Rick lax, worth much more than the price, when you see your audience's jaws drop! Keep up the good work!! I will have to check out your other tricks.....

I'm usually wary of products that ship just as a DVD without a gimmick -- I've found the tricks are usually very difficult to do, or don't work.

Detach, on the other hand, actually works and is easy to do. I was up and running within an hour of finishing the DVD, doing it fairly well in front of a mirror. (And I'm very untalented with manual dexterity and sleight-of-hand -- hence my rich history of gimmick purchases from Penguin :) -- so you could probably be doing it within an hour as well, or less if your dexterity is good!)

I do this regularly as part of my wandering act, since all you need to carry is a balloon.

Great job Rick Lax.

I agree 100% with Filip's review - clean, normal balloon, but don't let you think that the magic will be minimized because of that. Rick has thought this out VERY well and it is an amazing effect. This is easily a $30 trick - he even underpriced this one in my opinion (not that I am complaining!). At the end of the DVD he even said that he thanks us for spending the money on his trick because he know how expensive this stuff can get - how nice! But the trick is amazing and I will practice this one. It's not hard to do either - I think Rick will be releasing a lot more very good stuff - top quality - don't let the low price fool you.

Pretty cool trick! This effect will take time to master. It is more difficult than "easy". I would say medium level difficulty. There are lots of steps to memorize.

It will not work surrounded, it is best only if the group is directly in front of you.

The balloon multiplication effect is worth the price alone.

The teaching is good, although there are a few errors that were not caught in the editing process that can make the learning process a little stressful. For example, Rick says "take your right thumb and...", but he meant to say left thumb.

I would recommend this product. Great for kid shows or any birthday.

This really is the perfect party trick!

I don't write a lot of reviews (I should write more because I find them invaluable) but I wanted to make sure I review at least one of Rick Lax's tricks. I have recently purchased Soul Paper (5 stars), Detach (5 stars), Happy Traveler (5 stars), and Binary Code (4.5 stars). They all freaking rock.

I am very impressed with Rick as a teacher. He explains everything thoroughly but not in so much detail that you get bored. Plus, he is an overall cool guy. You can tell he loves magic and really does appreciate his customers.

Detach does take a bit of practice to get it looking smooth. However, with practice it will look exactly like it does in the video. After a few nights of practicing 20 - 30
minutes, I have it down.

The great thing is, you really do start and end clean and there is no gimmick! The thinking on this trick is really outside the box.

Great job Rick!

I started as a magician in 77; got introduced to Balloon Twisting in 85 & started doing both. Since 2000 I have only got calls for Balloons. I LOVE balloons and that's why Latex caught my attention. I've been looking for some Balloon Magic effects (impromptu) I could add to my performance. What you see in the video is WHAT YOU DO with Latex. When I started to watch the DVD and Rick's handling for this, I just thought, WOW, HOW CREATIVE, and what an Amazing Illusion you are creating. When I watched this for the first time, I just thot, 'now why didn't I think of that'? Because Rick did. Rick is a cool dude and creative thinker. If you are looking for some cool magic, other than cards or coins, Latex is definitely worth considering. I LOVE this effect. You probably won't be able to do this surrounded, but that doesn't bother me, as I'm usually facing my crowds. Well, actually, I'm thinking with good audience management and good handling, you just might be able to pull this off surrounded. Once I get some balloons, I can't wait to start practicing this in front of my mirror. Highly recommended. 5 Stars for sure from this performer :-)

The dvd is easy to follow but it does require a lot of practice to get down smoothly as with any magic effect.
This is a very crafty illusion in your hands.
I am not much of a balloon working performer but this is a really cool little trick to have in your collection.

Wow...this is just genius thinking by Rick Lax. The thought process he used to come up with the method is brilliant. He took an old trick that most of us probably know and applied it to a balloon. Just very creative thinking.. While this trick will take some practice, it is well worth it as it is totally impromptu. Just like it says, you start clean and end clean and you don't need a gimmick. Granted you need a certain size balloon, (12") but that is the only thing stopping you from performing very visual trick. He also tells you that you can go to Walmart and get a huge bag of 72 12" balloons for around $4.50. So if you just ordered this, you might want to make a stop at your local Walmart or party supply store. Back to the trick...I thought I had an idea how it was done but I was way off. The only thing I will caution you on is that you do need to have some lung power to blow up the balloon. But he even gives you a tip on that as well..

On top of Detach, he gives you the perfect segue into performing it with his multiplying balloon trick. Now this one, I figured out and some might say big deal, but it works so perfectly for a lead into Detach. And for the general layman, or kids, they will be fooled. Since they have no idea what your going to do, it will blow right past them. But what makes it such a great lead in is you are giving out balloons that will become perfect misdirection for what you need to do for Detach, although unless people are burning your hands you really don't need that much misdirection to get set up for Detach. Even if you saw the method, it's worth buying the DVD just to get the subtleties that he gives you. My ONLY criticism is that they couldn't just give you one balloon to play around with when you get the DVD. This is a Theory 11 release so you can't blame Penguin. Although, whoever is proof reading this review...maybe you guys could throw in a couple balloons in the future?

Anyway, this trick hits all the marks for me to give it a 5 star rating. Bravo Rick Lax.

I see the good reviews. In fact, thats why I purchased this. However, I must be missing something on this one because it seems rather lame to me. I tried to like it, but I don't. But,then again, I am not the judge....this one is just not for me. Clearly others like it, but it "Lax" that magical moment for me.

I like this, and if you like what you see then get it. The advertising is very honest. I find it very hard to make it look as good as Rick however, it is very hard to stretch the balloon as much as he does, which may be due to the balloons he is using. The tutorial is quite rushed, but it's clear enough, and after maybe a couple of hours of practice I got it down. Can't be performed surrounded.

Overall, solid trick, would recommend!